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Saturday, December 4, 2010

The Squirrel's Nut Cache - 12/4/2010

A Saturday Nut Special!

The Nut Cache - a collection of recent things I found interesting, or amusing, or nutworthy.

I don't know how many stories like this I've documented since I began doing the Nut Cache, I'd have to go back and count. But, in less than 2 years, I think this is the fourth or fifth. Once again, a druggie has sent a text message to law enforcement trying to set up a drug deal. In this case, a 26-year-old Indiana man sent a text to a woman in the prosecutor's office... to predictable results. This seems to be a growing problem among drug dealers. Yup, that's why they call it dope...

This used to be a free country. Now, don't get me wrong! I'm very much against animal cruelty, but coloring your pet's fur isn't cruel! Oh, it may be in bad taste, but it isn't cruel. It certainly isn't worth a $225 fine. However, it seems that animal control officials in Florida disagree. Christine Hill died her dog's paws pink for Halloween, and the law found out! Bam! Citation time! (Call me an alarmist, but I see this as another warning sign of a coming police state in America.)

Since 1984, economists at PNC Wealth Management have calculated the cost of the gifts enumerated in The Twelve Days of Christmas. This year sees a rise of 9.2% over last year, to a grand total of $23,439.38. This is just about double the 1984 cost of $12,673.56. I don't see this as a real economic indicator so much as an obsession over a really stupid Christmas song...

Speaking of things that cost too much... I am astonished at the cost of weddings these days. Wedding dresses costing multiple thousands of dollars, huge catered meals, etc. A recent series of events threatened Melissa Conley's dream wedding just weeks before her walk down the aisle: her two wedding dresses where destroyed in a fire, the bride's maids dresses were lost, and the restaurant where the rehearsal dinner was scheduled closed. She scrambled and got everything put back together. The wedding is supposed to be today. (Really, I think the whole "perfect wedding" thing needs to be rethought, especially in these tough economic times. But, next year, thousands of young girls are going to watch Prince Harry's wedding on television, and a whole new set of "princess" expectations will be born...)

I'm not a pilot, but I am a long-time aircraft enthusiast, I'm friends with several pilots, and I've spent an hour or two on Microsoft Flight Simulator (and, most recently, Orbiter2010 Space Flight Simulator). I know that, in this post-9/11 world, two of the things you really need to pay attention to is 1) instructions from air traffic control and 2) restricted airspace in your area of operation. Recently, an unidentified student pilot, on a solo flight at the controls of a Cessna 172, learned he had failed to pay attention to both of those things when he looked out his window to see two F-16's on his wing. He was flying over Washington, DC (That's one of those places that you just don't fly over), and air traffic control was unable to raise the plane on the radio. After the fighters got his attention, the pilot landed the plane as instructed. The article didn't say if the FAA considered this a successful solo flight...

Sluggy Freelance

WARNING: Sluggy Freelance is a quirky, offbeat, secular comic strip for grown-ups. It is not an "adult" cartoon, but it is PG-13, and not for children. I think it's funny, and that's probably a sign of my own depravity. Yes, the bunny is cute, but he's homicidal, OK?